Sermon Illustrations for Advent 1 (2024)
Illustration
Jeremiah 33:14-16
God proclaims that the promises made to Israel will be kept. It brings to mind the question, “How good am I at keeping promises?” Do I blithely make a promise and then forget about following through? Do I make a few promises and diligently keep every single one? Do I avoid making promises, so I don’t have to keep them? I’m not sure in which category I fit and maybe the category changes from day to day and circumstance to circumstance.
One thing I do know, God always keeps God’s promises. Now I can get impatient waiting for God to fulfill a promise, as I am sure Israel did. And yet, all God’s promises are fulfilled in the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus. This Advent we begin the foretelling of how God will fulfill God’s promises to us all. We may not see the promise as it begins to be fulfilled but trust me. God keeps promises, then and now and in all the days to come.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Jeremiah 33:14-16
Okay, back up to Jeremiah 23:5-6, which says almost the same thing as 33:16. Jeremiah, speaking out against “shepherds who let the flock of my pasture stray and scatter” (23:1), looks ahead to a king who shall come from “…a true branch of David’s line.” (23:5) This shepherd will be called “God is our vindicator.” (23:6) The Hebrew for this name, Yhwh sidqenu, is a pun on King Zedekiah, one of the rulers Jeremiah prophesied against.
That’s the subtext for today’s reading when Jeremiah once again speaks of the Davidic king from the true branch, whose line shall never end. Also, here it is the city instead of the king that is named “God is our vindicator.” (33:16)
The city is the center from which true worship will take place eternally. This suggests to me that not only is Jesus our King, descended from David, but this eternal king will reign in the New Jerusalem, not the old one. It seems to me that we, as the fellowship of believers, are also eternal. Jesus may have been derided, railroaded, condemned, and crucified, but he was also vindicated by God. That goes for us too. Even though we, as the church, are derided, condemned, and executed, in places like Nigeria for instance, we will reign with Jesus in the eternal temple because God is our vindicator.
(Translations from this installment are taken from The JPS Tanakh: Gender-Sensitive Edition. The insight was gleaned from the footnotes of this edition).
Frank R.
* * *
Jeremiah 33:14-16
John Calvin saw the theme of God's promises not being fulfilled on the timeline we are expecting as embedded in this text. On that subject he noted:
... for we are thus reminded that the promises of God are not always so manifest, that their effect of accomplishment is evident to us, but on the contrary they may appear to be dead and void... In short, the true application of prophetic truth is, that we never lay hold on, and really embrace the promises of God, except we look forward to the days that are coming, that is except we patiently wait for the time prefixed by God. (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol.X/2, pp.247-248)
Calvin also warns against trying to impose our agendas on God. He writes, "We are at the same time reminded that we are not presumptuously to hope for anything, except God has spoken." (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol.X/2, p.249) Neurobiologists have discerned that hopefulness about the future significantly contributes to happiness and emotional health, as in these instances muscles relax, the heart beats more slowly, and the brain releases chemicals (esp. amphetamine, dopamine) that make the body feel good. (Daniel Amen, Change Your Life, esp. p.58)
Mark E.
* * *
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
Michael Stuart and Jaime Hernandez are not well-known, famous people, but their story is a powerful one. On an October afternoon in 2022, Jaime was working in an Atlanta neighborhood. As Atlanta News First reports, Jaime was about to start work on a yard when he says a car hit the back of the truck where he was standing. Michael lived in the neighborhood, heard the screams, ran outside, and found Jaime. Michael used a belt as a tourniquet to stop what should’ve been a fatal bleed. While in the hospital, Jaime told his family and reporters that one of the first things he wanted to do was to thank the man who saved his life. I watched that tearful, face to face, meeting on a YouTube video.
In this text, Paul is also grateful to the Christians in Thessalonica. Despite the temptations the Christians in Thessalonica faced. they remained faithful. This fact brought Paul and his companions joy in the middle of the persecutions they endured. Also, the Thessalonians remember and desire a relationship with Paul and Silas which also prompts their thankfulness. The gratitude and joy that Paul feels fuels his desire to see them “face to face.” He wants to be able to personally meet and help them. Thankfulness inspired the desire to grow closer relationally. It was true for Paul and his companions. It can be true for us, too.
Bill T.
* * *
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
The apostle emphasizes in 1 Thessalonians 3:10 how much he wants “to look you in the face” (my translation) in order to bring the Thessalonians back to the faith. The fact that he could not do so easily was part of the problem. Experts disagree about whether he wrote this letter from Corinth or Athens, but anyone looking at a map for the three cities can see that it’s not like Paul could jump in a car, a train, or a plane. Walking would have been his most likely course, and at the speed of walking he would have been looking at a trip of a week at least.
This holiday season is one where emotions flag, and sag, and we often find ourselves exhausted emotionally and spiritually. It is a dark time of year, when the days are short. For some people the result is gloom and even despair. People that leave early for work and go home a little later may see little or nothing of the sun. We need each other. Granted that we can reach out with a zoom or video call, and that there is always a text or an email that can cross the digital divide, there is still nothing like a visit, a meal shared, a rendezvous at a restaurant, or a welcome hug at church, to bridge the gap and restore each other’s spirits. We’re all short of time, but making the time to make contact with someone who you know is down in the dumps, or perhaps AWOL from church activities recently, can be a crucial lift of the spirits. Paul emphasizes how important it is for us to pray for each other, but he also expresses that wish to be together physically, something that for us is both easy and expected.
Frank R.
* * *
Luke 21:25-36
I came across an interesting story about whales and dolphins. The question was asked on a whale/dolphin safari, “how do dolphins and whales sleep?” The Auckland Whale and Dolphin Safari website posted an interesting reply. “The first thing to consider about whales and dolphins is that they are conscious breathers. This means that they must choose to come to the surface and take each breath. They do not have a breathing reflex which takes over during periods of unconsciousness or sleep like humans do, so they must actually remain conscious even during rest, or they risk suffocating or drowning.”
The answer continues, “To get around this, they enter a state of sleep called ‘unihemispheric slow wave sleep’ or USWS. Essentially, one hemisphere of the brain (and the opposite eye!) sleeps at a time while the other remains in an active state, in order to watch for predators or obstacles, to react to danger, and to signal when to rise to the surface for a breath of fresh air.”
It is true, then, that dolphins and whales sleep with one eye open. In the passage of Luke’s gospel, Jesus urges his listeners to not let the “day catch them unexpectedly, like a trap.” He challenges them to “be alert at all times.” What was true then is true now. As we prepare to celebrate his first coming, may we be alert and ready for the day of his return. Learn a lesson from the whales and dolphins. Always be watching.
Bill T.
* * *
Luke 21:25-36
This gospel reading describes the second coming of the Son of Man (Jesus) and warns us all to be ready. It seems a challenging and almost horrifying description of what is to come. People will faint. The heavens will shake. And then heaven and earth will pass away. Such portents are challenging for those of us who think of Advent as a happy time of preparation for the nativity. And yet, the early gospel writers wanted people to be prepared. They actually thought that the second coming, the return of Jesus, would happen during their time on earth.
We now know that this did not happen, and we also do not know when the end of our physical world and the presence of Jesus returning to earth will happen. The call is to be prepared, to be ready, to have order and peace, faith and hope in our lives as Jesus returns. Preparation is a good thing. Keeping our hearts and minds fixed on faith and love, grace and forgiveness, hope and expectation can feed our souls. May it be so.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Luke 21:25-36
Famed 20th-century German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was preaching a sermon on the First Sunday of Advent and proclaimed a word timely for this text. As he put it:
Do you want to be redeemed? That is the one great question Advent puts to us. Does even a vestige of longing burn in you? If not, what do we want from Advent, what do we want from Christmas? A little inner emotion?...
Lift up your heads, you army of the afflicted, the humbled, the discouraged, you defeated army with bowed heads. The battle is not lost, the victory is yours — take courage, be strong! There is no room here for shaking your heads and doubting, because
Christ is coming. (A Testament of Hope, pp. 236-237)
Martin Luther claimed that this text is a call to repentance, laying aside all hatred, realizing that Christ's coming will be a sweet day for the faithful (Complete Sermons, Vol.1/1, pp.76-77):
There is no one so well prepared for the judgment day as he who longs to be without sin. If you have such a desire, what do you fear? You are then in perfect accord with the purpose of that day. It comes to set free from sin all who desire it. (Ibid., p.77)
In this spirit, John Wesley once claimed that the text teaches us that "Neither are we wise if we think ourselves out of reach of any sin." (Commentary On the Bible, p.450)
Mark E.
God proclaims that the promises made to Israel will be kept. It brings to mind the question, “How good am I at keeping promises?” Do I blithely make a promise and then forget about following through? Do I make a few promises and diligently keep every single one? Do I avoid making promises, so I don’t have to keep them? I’m not sure in which category I fit and maybe the category changes from day to day and circumstance to circumstance.
One thing I do know, God always keeps God’s promises. Now I can get impatient waiting for God to fulfill a promise, as I am sure Israel did. And yet, all God’s promises are fulfilled in the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus. This Advent we begin the foretelling of how God will fulfill God’s promises to us all. We may not see the promise as it begins to be fulfilled but trust me. God keeps promises, then and now and in all the days to come.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Jeremiah 33:14-16
Okay, back up to Jeremiah 23:5-6, which says almost the same thing as 33:16. Jeremiah, speaking out against “shepherds who let the flock of my pasture stray and scatter” (23:1), looks ahead to a king who shall come from “…a true branch of David’s line.” (23:5) This shepherd will be called “God is our vindicator.” (23:6) The Hebrew for this name, Yhwh sidqenu, is a pun on King Zedekiah, one of the rulers Jeremiah prophesied against.
That’s the subtext for today’s reading when Jeremiah once again speaks of the Davidic king from the true branch, whose line shall never end. Also, here it is the city instead of the king that is named “God is our vindicator.” (33:16)
The city is the center from which true worship will take place eternally. This suggests to me that not only is Jesus our King, descended from David, but this eternal king will reign in the New Jerusalem, not the old one. It seems to me that we, as the fellowship of believers, are also eternal. Jesus may have been derided, railroaded, condemned, and crucified, but he was also vindicated by God. That goes for us too. Even though we, as the church, are derided, condemned, and executed, in places like Nigeria for instance, we will reign with Jesus in the eternal temple because God is our vindicator.
(Translations from this installment are taken from The JPS Tanakh: Gender-Sensitive Edition. The insight was gleaned from the footnotes of this edition).
Frank R.
* * *
Jeremiah 33:14-16
John Calvin saw the theme of God's promises not being fulfilled on the timeline we are expecting as embedded in this text. On that subject he noted:
... for we are thus reminded that the promises of God are not always so manifest, that their effect of accomplishment is evident to us, but on the contrary they may appear to be dead and void... In short, the true application of prophetic truth is, that we never lay hold on, and really embrace the promises of God, except we look forward to the days that are coming, that is except we patiently wait for the time prefixed by God. (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol.X/2, pp.247-248)
Calvin also warns against trying to impose our agendas on God. He writes, "We are at the same time reminded that we are not presumptuously to hope for anything, except God has spoken." (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol.X/2, p.249) Neurobiologists have discerned that hopefulness about the future significantly contributes to happiness and emotional health, as in these instances muscles relax, the heart beats more slowly, and the brain releases chemicals (esp. amphetamine, dopamine) that make the body feel good. (Daniel Amen, Change Your Life, esp. p.58)
Mark E.
* * *
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
Michael Stuart and Jaime Hernandez are not well-known, famous people, but their story is a powerful one. On an October afternoon in 2022, Jaime was working in an Atlanta neighborhood. As Atlanta News First reports, Jaime was about to start work on a yard when he says a car hit the back of the truck where he was standing. Michael lived in the neighborhood, heard the screams, ran outside, and found Jaime. Michael used a belt as a tourniquet to stop what should’ve been a fatal bleed. While in the hospital, Jaime told his family and reporters that one of the first things he wanted to do was to thank the man who saved his life. I watched that tearful, face to face, meeting on a YouTube video.
In this text, Paul is also grateful to the Christians in Thessalonica. Despite the temptations the Christians in Thessalonica faced. they remained faithful. This fact brought Paul and his companions joy in the middle of the persecutions they endured. Also, the Thessalonians remember and desire a relationship with Paul and Silas which also prompts their thankfulness. The gratitude and joy that Paul feels fuels his desire to see them “face to face.” He wants to be able to personally meet and help them. Thankfulness inspired the desire to grow closer relationally. It was true for Paul and his companions. It can be true for us, too.
Bill T.
* * *
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
The apostle emphasizes in 1 Thessalonians 3:10 how much he wants “to look you in the face” (my translation) in order to bring the Thessalonians back to the faith. The fact that he could not do so easily was part of the problem. Experts disagree about whether he wrote this letter from Corinth or Athens, but anyone looking at a map for the three cities can see that it’s not like Paul could jump in a car, a train, or a plane. Walking would have been his most likely course, and at the speed of walking he would have been looking at a trip of a week at least.
This holiday season is one where emotions flag, and sag, and we often find ourselves exhausted emotionally and spiritually. It is a dark time of year, when the days are short. For some people the result is gloom and even despair. People that leave early for work and go home a little later may see little or nothing of the sun. We need each other. Granted that we can reach out with a zoom or video call, and that there is always a text or an email that can cross the digital divide, there is still nothing like a visit, a meal shared, a rendezvous at a restaurant, or a welcome hug at church, to bridge the gap and restore each other’s spirits. We’re all short of time, but making the time to make contact with someone who you know is down in the dumps, or perhaps AWOL from church activities recently, can be a crucial lift of the spirits. Paul emphasizes how important it is for us to pray for each other, but he also expresses that wish to be together physically, something that for us is both easy and expected.
Frank R.
* * *
Luke 21:25-36
I came across an interesting story about whales and dolphins. The question was asked on a whale/dolphin safari, “how do dolphins and whales sleep?” The Auckland Whale and Dolphin Safari website posted an interesting reply. “The first thing to consider about whales and dolphins is that they are conscious breathers. This means that they must choose to come to the surface and take each breath. They do not have a breathing reflex which takes over during periods of unconsciousness or sleep like humans do, so they must actually remain conscious even during rest, or they risk suffocating or drowning.”
The answer continues, “To get around this, they enter a state of sleep called ‘unihemispheric slow wave sleep’ or USWS. Essentially, one hemisphere of the brain (and the opposite eye!) sleeps at a time while the other remains in an active state, in order to watch for predators or obstacles, to react to danger, and to signal when to rise to the surface for a breath of fresh air.”
It is true, then, that dolphins and whales sleep with one eye open. In the passage of Luke’s gospel, Jesus urges his listeners to not let the “day catch them unexpectedly, like a trap.” He challenges them to “be alert at all times.” What was true then is true now. As we prepare to celebrate his first coming, may we be alert and ready for the day of his return. Learn a lesson from the whales and dolphins. Always be watching.
Bill T.
* * *
Luke 21:25-36
This gospel reading describes the second coming of the Son of Man (Jesus) and warns us all to be ready. It seems a challenging and almost horrifying description of what is to come. People will faint. The heavens will shake. And then heaven and earth will pass away. Such portents are challenging for those of us who think of Advent as a happy time of preparation for the nativity. And yet, the early gospel writers wanted people to be prepared. They actually thought that the second coming, the return of Jesus, would happen during their time on earth.
We now know that this did not happen, and we also do not know when the end of our physical world and the presence of Jesus returning to earth will happen. The call is to be prepared, to be ready, to have order and peace, faith and hope in our lives as Jesus returns. Preparation is a good thing. Keeping our hearts and minds fixed on faith and love, grace and forgiveness, hope and expectation can feed our souls. May it be so.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Luke 21:25-36
Famed 20th-century German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was preaching a sermon on the First Sunday of Advent and proclaimed a word timely for this text. As he put it:
Do you want to be redeemed? That is the one great question Advent puts to us. Does even a vestige of longing burn in you? If not, what do we want from Advent, what do we want from Christmas? A little inner emotion?...
Lift up your heads, you army of the afflicted, the humbled, the discouraged, you defeated army with bowed heads. The battle is not lost, the victory is yours — take courage, be strong! There is no room here for shaking your heads and doubting, because
Christ is coming. (A Testament of Hope, pp. 236-237)
Martin Luther claimed that this text is a call to repentance, laying aside all hatred, realizing that Christ's coming will be a sweet day for the faithful (Complete Sermons, Vol.1/1, pp.76-77):
There is no one so well prepared for the judgment day as he who longs to be without sin. If you have such a desire, what do you fear? You are then in perfect accord with the purpose of that day. It comes to set free from sin all who desire it. (Ibid., p.77)
In this spirit, John Wesley once claimed that the text teaches us that "Neither are we wise if we think ourselves out of reach of any sin." (Commentary On the Bible, p.450)
Mark E.
